sparks and strange nights
by not a straight trumpet
Summary: Kumiko's birthday rolls around. It doesn't go as planned, but what does?


**a/n: **happy birthday to my favorite character of all time

* * *

Hazuki and Midori had sent her messages of well wishes, expressing (by the way of several emojis) their regret at not being able to be there.

Natsuki, possibly as a means of recreating some misspent youth (or just looking for a good time, more likely - her youth had been spent well enough) had offered to drive her and Reina to what she called, cryptically, The Destination. Kumiko did not want to find out what that was, even though Reina had explained to her that it was perfectly safe and it had all been planned ahead of time.

"It's your playlist, Kumiko," Natsuki said as she booted up the truck. "Your day. Whaddaya wanna listen to?"

"Oh." Kumiko's mind went blank, as it often did when she was asked about this sort of thing. "Uh, maybe _Crescent Moon Dance_?" Natsuki pulled a face, but she complied nonetheless.

"Have we all grown sick of that song so quickly?" Reina folded her hands in her lap, looking extremely out of place in Natsuki's pickup truck. The opening notes started to blare. Unconsciously, Reina started to imitate her trumpet's finger placements along with the song.

It took Kumiko a moment to realize she was doing it, too.

"It's not that far of a drive," Natsuki continued. "Honestly, knowing the length of this thing, we'll probably be there before it's over."

"Huh." Kumiko had no idea what else to say. Reina's hand had started to creep towards her own, though, and that made her feel invincible, more or less.

* * *

"Here we are!" Natsuki swept her hand towards the scenery as if unveiling one of the world's greatest secrets. It had started to grow dark outside, and all Kumiko could make out was a hill with a big tree at the top. "This is where I take my leave - just text me when you're ready, yeah?" She gave a wink and then drove off, leaving Kumiko and Reina standing alone together. Kumiko started to wonder if this Destination, if Natsuki's actions had anything to do with the way Hazuki and Midori had given their excuses, if this was all a ploy straight (oh, tje irony) out of a romcom.

"So . . . what now?"

"They should be right under the tree." Reina made a beeline for its outline with such purpose that Kumiko wondered if she somehow had night vision. Then she bonked right into it, and Kumiko remembered the fact that she'd downloaded a flashlight app for the mountain, a million years ago. "Found it," she muttered, holding one hand to her forehead as she picked up a crate with the other.

"Are you okay?" Kumiko yelped.

"I'm fine." Reina crossed back, setting the crate down. Kumiko peered inside.

"They're fireworks!"

"I remember using them at band camp," Reina explained. Kumiko remembered that too - that was the night she'd learnt about Taki's wife.

It was also the night she'd held Reina's face in her hands and had tried not to think about how very soft she was, how the contact made her heart beat faster and her cheeks heat up.

"Kumiko?" Reina's voice snapped her out of it.

"Yeah?"

"Do you want to start?" Reina held out one of the sparklers, an offering, a gift. Kumiko took it graciously. Reina dug a lighter out of the crate, then, lighting Kumiko's sparkler like a dame in an old movie lighting a cigarette. The thing erupted into a burst of sparks, and Kumiko stumbled back instinctively. She could see little bits of her surroundings, now, the green summer grass and Reina's face. Reina herself was still holding a hand to her forehead, and Kumiko felt a twinge of guilt that was really more like a punch.

"I'm g-going to get Natsuki," she said, precariously holding out the sparkler as she dug her phone out of her pocket one-handed, typed a quick message and waited. "Y'know, you didn't have to do this for me. I'm just glad that you, uh, remembered."

"I wouldn't be who I am without my grand gestures." Reina shrugged. "That's all."

"Right." Kumiko paused, watched her sparkler putter out until it was just a burnt stick. "You're still weird sometimes, Reina."

"And you're still terrible sometimes, Kumiko."

"Ha. Would a terrible person be waiting with you to get driven back home o-on her birthday?"

"Perhaps." Reina held Kumiko's hand tight, and Kumiko felt like she'd just been shocked. Not in a bad way, though, which honestly undid the idea entirely - nobody had ever been shocked in the literal way and thought of it as a good thing.

Oh, contradictions. Kumiko's head swam with them, but she tried to focus on the now, on how she and Reina clicked together like a puzzle.

* * *

Natsuki arrived a few minutes later, loading the pair (and their crate of sparklers) into the truck without much fanfare.

"Didja have fun?" she asked, looking in the rearview mirror. Kumiko and Reina looked at each other and nodded. "Great. It's really too late for any of us to be going somewhere alone - Kumiko, Kousaka, are you two okay with staying at my place?"

"Sure," Kumiko said, just at the same time Reina did.

"Happy ice cream," Reina added, lightning-quick. Kumiko snorted. Natsuki groaned.

"You two are too cute for your own good, ya know that?"

* * *

A little while later, the three of them were piled up on Natsuki's ratty couch, watching a movie Kumiko lost herself in. Reina held an ice pack to her head. Natsuki laughed at the way her pet cat had taken an immediate shining to Reina, constantly batting at her black tights, begging for another little square of cheese, and this wasn't the birthday Kumiko had thought she'd have at all, but it was certainly one she wouldn't forget.

* * *

**a/n: **i finished the fic this morning but i had to add. the Cheese Thing. (thanks cracker barrel corporate twitter)


End file.
